Wireless communication networks provide wireless communication services to mobile wireless communication devices through a plurality of base stations that have geographical service coverage areas often referred to as cells. A base station may have any of numerous sized and shaped cells where a terminology has developed to categorize the various cell sizes. Cells can be categorized as macrocells, microcells, picocells, and femtocells. Macrocells are typically deployed with wireless wide area networks (WWAN) and have sizes measured in miles. Microcells are typically implemented to cover a block. Picocells are generally considered to be smaller than microcells and may be implemented to cover a small number of suites or a portion of a building. Femtocells are the smallest of the four categories and are typically implemented as extensions to other networks to provide service to a single residence or other similar small area.
In some implementations, networks using different communication technologies may provide service within overlapping geographical service areas. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless wide area networks (WWANs) provide wireless communication services to portable devices where the WLANs typically provide services within geographical service areas that are smaller than the geographical areas serviced by WWANs. Examples of WWANs include systems that operate in accordance with 2.5G (such as cdma2000), 3G (such as UMTS, WiMax), and other types of technologies, where each base station of the WWAN is typically designed to cover a service area having a size measured in miles. The term WWAN is used primarily to distinguish this group of diverse technologies from WLANs that typically have smaller service areas on the order of 100 to 300 feet per base station. Base stations in WLANs are typically referred to as access points. An access point may be connected to the Internet, intranet, or other network through wires or wirelessly through a WWAN. Examples of WLANs include systems using technologies such as Wi-Fi and other wireless protocols in accordance with IEEE 802.11 standards. WLANs typically provide higher bandwidth services than WWANs at the expense of non-ubiquitous coverage whereas WWANs provide increased coverage areas at the cost of bandwidth and/or capacity. In order to provide a wireless user with the increased overall performance and continuous connectivity, multi-mode mode and dual-mode portable communication devices have been developed allowing the communication device to access the particular type of network that provides the most desirable tradeoffs. A multi-mode wireless communication device includes the appropriate components and functionality for communicating within more than one network. For example, a dual-mode portable communication device can communicate within a WWAN and a WLAN.
In order to provide a wireless user with the increased overall performance and continuous connectivity, many wireless communication devices can access more than one type of network. The device may access a particular type of network that provides the most desirable features and/or performance. Multimode wireless communication devices that can access two or more networks operating with different technologies. For example, a dual-mode portable communication device can communicate within a WWAN and a WLAN.
Unfortunately, conventional techniques for managing the connection status between the portable communication device and the access point are limited in that they require GPS location information or include inefficient searching mechanisms executed by the portable communication device in order to establish service with a new network for performing a handoff between networks. For example, some conventional systems require the mobile communication device to periodically tune to an alternate network channel in an attempt to detect an alternate network or alternate size cell resulting in significant power consumption with a limited success rate of detecting alternate networks or base stations.
Locating a wireless communication device using conventional techniques in femtocell implementations may be more difficult. The femtocell base station is a scalable, multi-channel, two-way communication device similar to a typical base station within the particular communication system. The femtocell base station, however, is typically implemented within a residence, business, or other relatively small area as compared to the macrocell and is connected to the core network through a packet switched network such as intranet or the Internet. One example of a femtocell base station is a UMTS access point base station containing a Node-B, RNC and GSN, with an Ethernet or broadband connection to the Internet or an intranet. In some situations the femtocell base station may be connected to the packet switched network through ATM/TDM connection. Application of VoIP allows such a unit to provide voice and data services in the same way as a normal base station, but with the deployment simplicity of a Wi-Fi access point. Other examples include CDMA-2000 and WiMAX base stations. The femtocell base stations (FBS) and the wireless communication devices operate in accordance with the existing radio access network (RAN) technologies. In a typical deployment, a femtocell service area is very small relative to a macrocell coverage making it extremely difficult for the wireless communication device to search for the femtocell signal. Further, the problem is acererbated when the device is required to tune from the macrocell frequency to a femtocell frequency for the search. As a result, quality of service (QoS) is degraded and power consumption increases.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus, system, and method for managing communication service to a wireless communication device.